Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between relative absorptive capacity and suppliers' operational performance. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses structural equation modelling of survey data from 218 Canadian manufacturers referring to a particular relationship with one of their customers. Findings Results suggest that only the first dimension of the relative absorptive capacity – knowledge sharing routines – influences the knowledge transferred from the customer to the supplier. Knowledge transfer acts as a mediator between knowledge sharing routines and the supplier's operational performance improvement. Research limitations/implications The absence of a significant association between the second dimension of relative absorptive capacity – overlapped knowledge bases – and knowledge transfer is a surprising result that should be further investigated. Originality/value This appears to be the first study to operationalise and empirically test relative absorptive capacity and its consequences in the particular context of customer‐supplier relationships.
